The Fault In Ourselves
by BelowtheFire
Summary: Hiro Ryuugamine thrives on danger, excitement, and monsters. Follow the days of her lovely, chaotic life in Raijin Academy as she dances as close to the edge as possible without falling into the abyss. Her relationships with a certain up-and-coming information broker and a certain guy with inhuman strength soon drive her life into further chaos. Izaya/OC Shizuo/OC
1. Chapter 1 - Stupid Fate

**Author's Note~**

**Lemme start off by saying this has nothing to do with the plot of The Fault In Our Stars, I just played off the name. Now that that's out of the way~ My OC Hiro Ryuugamine is indeed the older sister of Mikado. For what I have planned for this story, it'll mostly take place during the Raijin Academy plot line and maybe, if I get there, to the part when Mikado comes to Ikebukuro. But that's far far away. I'll be combining elements of the light novels and anime as well as my own stories. Sorry in advance if there's inaccuracies to something in the anime/light novels, I'm trying my best to keep it accurate if I mention something.**

**Enjoy and leave a review~ Thanks for reading!**

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_Chapter 1 – Stupid Fate_

Fate has a peculiar way of bringing certain people together. Those certain people could be soul mates, arch enemies, friends for a lifetime, strangers meant to meet only once, but either way, there's always a definitive quality to those meetings. Something changes within them – for better or for worse or for maybe something in between. Fate is strange that way.

_I hate scum like these senseless idiots,_ Hiro Ryuugamine thought as she kneeled beside a badly beaten man. After a moment of searching she rose holding his wallet and took a peek inside. "Only fifty thousand yen?!" She took the cash and dumped the contents of the wallet onto the ground where the man's blood started seeping into the concrete. "This hardly puts a dent in your debt to the Yamaguchi family! And honestly, hiring more thugs to protect you?" Spinning on her heel she grabbed the pipe that was making a bee-line for her head and glared at the man holding the other end. Jerking him forward she smashed her fist in his face conclusively knocking him out. "I hate people," she muttered kicking the unconscious bodies with the toe of her shoe. When she noticed blood spotting her dress shoes, she grimaced and started to bend down to clean it off. Just then, a trashcan sailed past, only inches from making impact with her.

"What…?" Slowly, she turned around to see two vaguely familiar figures. The blonde guy tore a stop sign straight out of the ground and whipped it at the dark-haired guy knocking him to the ground. _Izaya? He probably deserved it…_ Even though she had befriended Izaya Orihara back in middle school, after the 'Biology Club' incident, things changed. Now in their second year of high school, Izaya wasn't even a ghost of the student he used to be. The blonde wasn't someone she knew _as_ well, but she _had_ gone to elementary school with him. _Shizuo Heiwajima._ She used to call him Shizu-chan and Izaya evidently picked up the habit. Their brawls became infamous after Shinra introduced them during first year. As frightening as everyone in school saw them, Hiro couldn't give two craps. Scary or not, that wasn't an excuse to nearly hit her with a trashcan!

"IIIZZZAAAYYAAA!" Shizuo shouted stomping closer to his fallen victim.

Hiro marched past Izaya, only sparing him a glance, and stood before Shizuo with crossed arms. "Well?" She demanded tapping her foot impatiently.

"Huh?" Shizuo narrowed his eyes on her. "What do you want?"

Gritting her teeth and absolutely furious, she jabbed a finger into his chest. "Watch where you throw that shit! You almost hit me with a freakin' trashcan!" Her gray eyes would burn holes into anyone else, but of course Shizuo appeared immune.

Hiro's anger seemed to suck his out of him. He rubbed his head and grumbled, "Oh, sorry."

Hiro decided to tirade on nonetheless. "Yeah, be sorry! You interrupted my job! I _hate_ people who interrupt me while I'm working!" She jabbed his chest again. "Next time watch it, 'kay?"

"Yeah, yeah." He furrowed his brow taking in the girl who seemed no older than him. She was average height with what other guys would call a great body. Her gray eyes were smoldering as she glared at him. And her blonde hair tugged unremorsefully into a ponytail revealed an intricate tattoo on the back of her neck. He didn't recognize the design, but others would; it represented the Yamaguchi family, a renowned leader in the Yakuza. She wore a uniform similar to the one girls at Raijin Academy did, except her jacket, bow, and schoolbag were strewn across the ground and blood splattered across her white button-down. Her knuckles were wrapped in boxing bandages, too. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

Hiro scoffed and started unwrapping the bandages. "I go to the same high school as you, _Shizu-chan_." She smirked when a vein twitched in his neck.

"Don't call me that!" He roared threateningly.

Hiro only giggled in effect. "Please, _I_ gave you that nickname first. We went to elementary school together. You probably don't remember, but I'm Hiro Ryuugamine." She didn't even bother looking at him through her introduction as she turned her back and started collecting her belongings.

"That's no fun, Hi-chan!" A voice called out from the side.

"Eh?" She glanced over her shoulder and found Izaya standing up and wearing a taunting smile. "Whatever, Izaya." She rolled her eyes and put her jacket back on buttoning it up to cover the blood stains. Messy fights pissed her off, but those assholes just _had_ to fight dirty. _Oh, right_. Remembering the last guy she knocked out, she picked his pocket and took his money as well. There was a little more, seventy thousand, but that still didn't match the two million the first jerk owed. Sighing, she put her bow and bandages in her bag and reviewed the mess before her, Shizuo and Izaya included. They both stared back at her.

"Did you do this?" Shizuo asked, his eyes flitting over the three fallen men with an unreadable expression.

Izaya kept silent, but the knowing grin he wore informed her that he knew without even having to ask.

"And if I did?" Hiro snapped checking her phone for the time. Twenty minutes to get to her lessons. If she started running now, she would make it, barely.

"What did they do to you?" Shizuo questioned.

A smirk crawled over her lips and she threw a dangerous look over her shoulder as she started leaving the alley. "Nothing personal. They just screwed with the Yakuza and got me as their punishment. See you guys in school, maybe."

Sometimes Hiro loved her job, especially at times like this where she could walk away from two of the most dangerous guys in her high school smirking and leaving them speechless. Satisfied her exit was dramatic enough, she took off running to make it on time to her lessons.

Twenty minutes later and slightly winded, she stopped in front of the Ikebukuro Ballet House. Collecting herself she strode into the building with her chin raised high. Despite her confidence, her fingers tightened around her jacket hoping no one would see the red dotting her shirt underneath. Reputation aside, she didn't want them to think worse things. Eyes focused on her through the mirrors as her fellow ballerinas stretched before the lesson. Once in the locker room, Hiro let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

"Look who decided to show up," a voice chirped from her left. Turning she found her best friend standing there look as petite and innocent as ever. Best friend and current charge; Kimeko Yamaguchi was an esteemed daughter of the notorious Yakuza family, and Hiro acted as one of her bodyguards.

"Yo Kimeko," Hiro greeted and slumped onto a bench to remove her shoes and socks.

"How did it go today?" Kimeko sat down and looked over her friend with warm blue eyes.

In a fit of anger, Hiro threw a shoe at the lockers startling the flock of girls on the other side of the locker room. They chattered to themselves sending wary glances at the two girls. One glare from Hiro ensured they didn't look that away again. "Just peachy," she answered Kimeko and huffed. "The jerk refused to do the return and hired two thugs to take me out."

"So you took _them_ out instead," Kimeko finished for Hiro with a frown. Picking up her friend's hand and examining the scarred knuckles, she added, "You know I don't like it when you fight for my family. What if you got hurt?"

Standing up, Hiro ruffled Kimeko's fluffy brown hair. "Your family's helped me out a lot so I feel like I owe them. Plus I like my job and I like fighting. It's a win-win for me on all sides."

"But you like dancing more," Kimeko countered in a quiet voice. "What if-"

Hiro cut her off by placing her hands on her friend's shoulders. "I'll be fine. I always am!" She raised a fist into the air, her eyes burning with confidence.

"Five minutes ladies!" The instructor called out.

Hiro paled and tore her clothes off and stuffed herself into tights and a leotard. Her hands shook minutely as she tried to pull her hair into a proper bun. Thankfully Kimeko sat her down and did it for her. Hiro closed her eyes enjoying the sensation of Kimeko's gentle fingers combing over her scalp. Sometimes, only sometimes, Hiro wished she lived a more normal life where everything revolved around school and ballet only. But that 'sometimes' always passed over quickly. She thrived on the dangers and excitement her current life brought her.

"By the way," Hiro mumbled as they exited the locker room. "I saw Izaya Orihara and Shizuo Heiwajima fighting today. I almost got hit with a trashcan!"

"Oh?" Kimeko's eyes lit up as she glanced at her taller friend. "Do you still like him?"

Eyes cast downward, Hiro mumbled in defeat, "Yeah…"

"I thought so. You're so weird," Kimeko giggled into her hand.

"I'm attracted to monsters."

"That you are."

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**P.S. Remember to leave a review letting me know what you think of this~**


	2. Chapter 2 - Stupid Choices

**Author's Note~**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, faved, and followed the story!**

**Here's a new chapter for you all!**

**As a minor note, I reread some of the light novels and it seems Izaya came in contact with the Awakusu and formed Amphisbaena during his third year. However, in my story I'm having both those events take place during second year, since for the third year I have other plans. I hope you all don't mind~**

**Leave a review and thanks for reading!**

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Chapter 2 – Stupid Choices

"Hi Hi-chan!"

Hiro gaped at the figure greeting her at her door. None other than Izaya stood there waving and wearing a weird smile.

"I'm amazed you still remember that I live in this crappy apartment," she commented dryly and exited making sure the door was firmly locked.

Izaya's reddish-brown eyes cut to her with a strange intensity. "Aren't we friends?" His grin mocked his words.

"We _were_ friends," she corrected adjusting her bag before holding it over her shoulder. "Then you stopped talking to me once high school started."

"I didn't think you'd be interesting anymore, but I was wrong. Who knew you worked for the yakuza, too!" He followed her down the stairs and walked at her side.

"_Too…_?" Not missing a beat, Hiro furrowed her brow and looked at him incredulously. Rethinking yesterday's occurrence, she wondered whether letting her hothead get the better of her and proudly proclaiming she worked for the yakuza was such a good idea after all. Sure it was only Izaya and Shizuo, plus everyone who knew her kind of assumed she did so…but the grin on Izaya's face and the fact he was right there in front of her suddenly made her nervous. And what did her mean by 'too'? She knew he wasn't normal and did some shady things, but the yakuza? Was his information business taking off that well?

Ignoring her burning stare, Izaya laughed and hooked his arm around hers. "Let's walk to school together like we used to, Hi-chan!"

Scoffing at his childish phrasing and voice, she asked, "Since when do you _really_ go to school anymore?" Despite her terse voice, she allowed his arm to stay linked with hers. It…kind of felt like middle school all over again. _But_, he avoided her question.

"Hmm?~ So you noticed that we're in the same class?"

Hiro rolled her eyes skyward. "I'm the class representative, so of course I notice when a certain _someone_ is always absent. But you already knew that." No matter how hard she stared at his face, she could never read his expressions. And then she'd start getting distracted…and…shaking her head she persisted in knowing why he said she worked for the yakuza _too_. "Are you sell-"

He cut her off making her fists clench.

"Nakura and I are reviving the club."

Fists unclenched.

"You're joking." Hiro knew he wasn't but commented anyway. "Is this an invitation?"

"Naturally," he grinned.

Hiro recognized that grin as a promise for something to happen. That 'something' was always obscure and most certainly questionable in consequence. It thrilled her.

Only in front of the school did Izaya release his hold on Hiro. She watched him curiously as they walked into the building. Just as curiously other students watched them. They both ignored the stares and continued carrying their conversation.

"What do you think my response will be?" She questioned, easily falling back into the comfortable place she once had at his side in middle school. Some things never really changed and old habits die hard.

He chuckled leaning against a wall and blocking her from walking any further. "You'll say yes, of course."

Hiro hated that he could read her so well, but as he pointed out a while ago, her face was an open book. Wearing her emotions on her sleeve came in handy sometimes, but it put her at a great disadvantage with Izaya. "Are we calling it the 'biology club' again?" A devious smile emerged to accompany her words.

"Maybe, you'll find out eventually." With that he skipped away and students parted for him to pass. First they gawked at Izaya and then they turned to her, questions and rumors already beginning to form.

If anyone so much as approached Hiro they would end up on the ground with a bloody nose. Thankfully Kimeko showed up just in time to calm the impending explosion. With the petite girl around, most people averted their eyes, but the muttering only grew louder.

"You came to school with Izaya Orihara," Kimeko noted placidly.

"He showed up at my door," Hiro explained making a face. Making sure no one was within hearing range, she leaned over and asked, "Do you know if he's getting clients from your family?"

Kimeko adjusted her hair in a pocket mirror and met Hiro's eyes in the reflection. "Not that I've heard. What makes you think that?"

"Nothing," Hiro muttered feeling irritated that she wasn't able to pin Izaya's movements in the underground world _she_ lived in.

The two girls stood at the shoe lockers and changed their dress shoes for their school shoes. Before Kimeko could question Hiro any further, she let out a cry of pain and dumped a bunch of thumbtacks onto the ground from the shoe she pulled from her locker.

Hiro gaped at the small pins scattering across the floor. A symphony of high-pitched giggles erupted from behind the lockers accompanied by the tapping of feet as the perpetrators fled the scene. Hiro slammed her fist into the lockers as Kimeko calmly put the shoe onto her foot without a word.

A hand wrapped around Hiro's wrist and removed her hand from the locker she had punched. Whipping around she found Shizuo staring between her, Kimeko, and the tacks littering the floor.

All he said was, "That's my locker you hit."

Fueled by her anger at the cowards who ran away, Hiro turned the brunt of her attention on Shizuo. "Good. That's for almost hitting me with a trashcan!"

Sighing as if the girl's anger tired him out, he pinched the bridge of his nose and grumbled, "Look, I said sorry about that. I was aiming for that scumbag."

"Then aim better!"

Perhaps a fault of Hiro's is that once she started something, she never stopped. Even when it came down to her yelling at someone who was notorious for his inhuman strength and vicious temper. Whispers erupted around the spectacle she was making so Hiro took a calming breath and sent him one last glare before she tugged Kimeko away.

Kimeko remained silent until they arrived at their classroom. "Aren't you afraid of him?"

Confused, Hiro turned to Kimeko and looked her up and down checking for any more signs of being bullied. "You mean Heiwajima-san? Not at all. I'm not afraid of anyone." Nothing was obviously out of place on Kimeko, but her non-reaction to the tacks made Hiro realize this wasn't the first encounter.

"Not even Orihara-san?" Kimeko asked sending her best friend into a contemplative silence.

"No," Hiro said eventually not sounding completely sure of her own answer. Sure, Izaya was by far the _last _person she wanted to piss of because she knew exactly what he was capable of, but she refused to fear him.

An arm hooked around her shoulders and a voice caressed her ear. "You sure about that Hi-chan?"

Kimeko took in a whistling breath and bristled at the tall, dark-haired teen who looked at Hiro as if she were his next meal. "Since when do you come to class?" She snapped, dropping her kind demeanor to glare at Izaya. Her words echoed Hiro's very own earlier.

Izaya grinned not startled in the least by Kimeko's sudden ire. "Since Hi-chan caught my attention again."

For a moment, uncertainty clouded Hiro's gaze as she looked up at Izaya. Even though it was gone as soon as it occurred, Izaya noticed and she knew he did. Biting her tongue, Hiro remained silent under his wing because that way he wouldn't be able to get more out of her.

At that exact moment Shinra Kishitani passed by the classroom on the way to his and stopped when he noticed an old pair resurfacing. "Izaya-kun? Hiro-chan?"

Kimeko shook her head, pursed her lips, and went to her seat. It was beyond her how Hiro managed to always get tangled up with these kinds of people. Monsters, Hiro always labeled them, and she wasn't wrong. That being said, Kimeko knew she fell into that category as well. Whether she wanted to or not, it was out of her hands.

"Shinra-kun," Hiro greeted her friend since elementary school with a genuine smile. "How've you been doing?"

Shinra surveyed her and Izaya for a moment before returning the smile. "Pretty good! Celty wants to see you soon. She doesn't get to make many friends so she misses you."

Hiro brightened instantly at the prospect of seeing Celty again. "Would it be fine if I went over tomorrow? I miss her, too."

Through the small exchange, Izaya remained silent watching Hiro's face change expressions with natural ease. What she felt truly showed, there was no hiding with her, which is why he had been interested in her back in middle school. But then he grew bored of the lack of surprises. Clearly he misjudged since somehow, beneath his watchful eye, she became a dog for the yakuza. He knew she had a link through Kimeko Yamaguchi, but he always doubted there was more to it. Soon he'd see how far her dedication went.

"So, Izaya-kun, it's rare to see you actually in class." Shinra turned his bespectacled gaze to Izaya whose face hadn't changed despite being deep in thought.

"I was just inviting Hi-chan to the new biology club, like old times." Izaya responded with ease knowing just how Shinra would react to the statement. Only four people knew about the incident that got Izaya put under protective custody; himself, Shinra, Nakura, and Hiro. Those four would always have _some_ kind of connection to each other, be it willing or unwilling. Fate, or perhaps Izaya, had them all played.

Shinra only had to take one look at Hiro to realize she knew exactly what she was getting herself into. Seeing that, he grabbed Izaya and dragged him out of the classroom slamming the door behind them.

Hiro stood there for a moment and then shrugged. If Shinra wanted to try and protect her for some reason, perhaps to impress Celty or because she was Celty's friend, who was she to stop him. It wouldn't change her course of actions. She didn't know how she felt without Izaya's arm around her anymore so she discarded the thought altogether. Sighing, she fell into her seat beside Kimeko.

"Why are you getting involved again?" Kimeko asked, keeping her eyes glued to her desk.

"Because I want to," Hiro murmured, smiling despite herself and Kimeko's worries.

Kimeko sighed tiredly and said no more.

Hiro wanted to ask about the bullies but decided to wait it out and see if anything else would happen today. If not, she would take the head-on approach.

The door banged open, but it wasn't Izaya who walked through.

"Hiro-chan!" Two girls ran toward Hiro shoving people out of their way.

The shorter one with bobbed red hair and dark eyes planted her hands firmly on Hiro's desk. "Rumor has it that you've been seen with Orihara-san _and_ Heiwajima-san this morning!"

The taller one with long black hair and light brown eyes chimed in, "Yeah! What's up with that?"

Hiro snorted as her two friends babbled on about what these rumors entailed – all of which were desperately wrong. "No, I didn't fight with either one of them. Well, I may have yelled at Heiwajima-san, but…And _NO _I didn't kiss either one of them!" She made a face. "Who the heck came up with that one?!"

The red-head bowed her head demurely. "I might have exaggerated some things…"

Slapping a hand to her face, Hiro wanted to throttle her friends. "Honestly Eri, why do you do these things to me?" She turned on the other one who was shaking barely able to contain her laughter. "And you're no better Yumi!" Groaning when the two burst out laughing, Hiro slammed her head onto the desk.

Eri patted her head gently. "Orihara-san's fan club won't be happy with you, good luck."

Izaya's fan club, another anomaly Hiro couldn't deduce. Why the heck those girls followed him religiously made no sense. Attractiveness could only go so far with someone who had a sadistic and malevolent personality. _Maybe those girls are all masochists. _Then again Hiro hadn't been too far off from being like them in middle school...But that was different, she decided. The thought made Hiro scoff. "I can handle anyone."

"Except Orihara-san and Heiwajima-san!" Yumi said in a singsong voice.

"Shut. UP!" Hiro roared standing up and towering over her friends. Instead of cowering like anyone else would have when they saw the flash of merciless anger in those gray eyes, they merely laughed even harder!

Eri poked Yumi's side. "Look! She's angry!"

Yumi settled down into giggles. "So tell us what _really_ happened!"

They took their seats around Hiro and waited expectantly for a story that would sorely disappoint them. "Nothing huge happened. I saw Izaya and Heiwajima-san fighting yesterday. Heiwajima-san almost hit me with a freakin' trashcan while I was working. I'm still pissed about almost being knocked over by a flying trashcan so I flipped when I saw him this morning."

"Wow," Eri commented with wide eyes.

"You're still on a first name basis with Orihara-san," Yumi sighed longingly.

"Well, we _were_ friends in middle school, and he never said I couldn't talk to him informally anymore. Besides, he stills calls me Hi-chan. Freakin' annoying." Hiro grumped leaning her chin onto her palm and inadvertently watching the door in case he walked in again.

"I'm so jealous!" Yumi cried making Hiro jump in her seat and stare incredulously.

With narrowed eyes, she asked, "Do you have a crush on him or something?"

Yumi blushed and hide behind a curtain of her dark hair. "Maybe…"

Hiro scrunched her face. "I'm pretty sure everyone's terrified of Izaya and Heiwajima-san both, why aren't you?"

Waving her hands in front of her, Yumi immediately corrected herself. "I mean, I _do_ think Orihara-san is scary! But there's also something really attractive about that! In fact, most people are terrified of him and Heiwajima-san, but they also admire one if not both of them in some way!"

Eri nodded in agreement. "They both look good. Their personalities can make anyone run in the other direction, but admiring from afar is perfectly okay."

So Yumi had no intentions of confessing or anything like that. Hiro found the fact slightly relieving for some reason. She thought that she just didn't want her friend to fall into the ranks of Izaya's freaky fan club.

Eri latched onto Hiro's hand and rattled her. "You told us about Heiwajima-san, but what about Orihara-san?! Did you two really come into school together?"

Hiro rolled her eyes. "Yeah." She answered with one, simple word wishing the two of them would stop prying, but she knew they wouldn't settle for anything less than what they thought was a full disclosure.

"Hiiiirroo-chan!" Yumi joined in by grabbing her other hand and shaking her like a maraca.

Waving from side to side because of her friends, Hiro stared straight ahead channeling her boiling frustration into the deep recesses of her mind so she could release it later.

Kimeko laughed to herself when she saw the pained look on her friend's face. She didn't intervene since it wasn't in her nature.

"_Fine_. He randomly showed up at my apartment this morning and we walked to school talking about trivial things. That's all." Hiro snapped closing her eyes and putting her head on the desk signaling an end to the conversation.

Kimeko readjusted a few strands of Hiro's hair to cover the tattoo that became revealed from the abrupt action. No one in school _really_ knew about Hiro's direct affiliation with the Yamaguchi family outside of Kimeko, and that's the way she wanted to keep it. Why Hiro bothered to get a tattoo in such an obvious place baffled Kimeko in that aspect.

Eri and Yumi joined hands and started discussing what Hiro and Izaya could have talked about in a loud chatter anyone could overhear. Hiro couldn't care any less now, considering the rumors that were already circulating the school.

When the bell for homeroom rang and the teacher walked in, there was no sign of Izaya returning. Hiro wondered what Shinra told him. She would ask later.

"You look kind of hopeful," Kimeko murmured quietly as to not catch the teacher's attention.

"Shut. Up."


	3. Chapter 3 - Stupid Past

**Author's Note~**

**Hi hi~ I'm super sorry for the late update, but here it is at last!**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, faved, and followed the story! I hope you all like this chapter!**

**Thanks for reading!~**

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Chapter 3 – Stupid Past

_'Right after school at the graveyard'_

Hiro stared at the note from an unknown sender that somehow passed to her. The graveyard was the basement of the school. Right after school…? _Ah, this must be the new 'Biology Club' meeting. Which means this is Nakura or Izaya. Probably Nakura_, she decided since it didn't look like Izaya's handwriting. "Weird," she muttered folding the note.

"You say something?" Kimeko glanced at her friend as they walked through the halls to lunch.

Hiro gave a manic grin derived from the questionable prospects for after school. "Just talking to myself."

"What is that?" Kimeko glanced over Hiro's shoulder as she refolded the note and tucked it into her jacket pocket.

"It's from an acquaintance." Hiro hummed to herself, a plan blossoming in her mind. She still had her job to collect from Honda, the asshole from yesterday. If she passed the job onto someone else…then it would be a huge weight off her shoulders. And Nakura was the perfect person to coerce into it.

Kimeko didn't look convinced with the simple response. "Oh?"

Hiro bit her lip and passed Kimeko a fragmented glance. "It's not important."

Kimeko sighed at the admission. "Sometimes I don't understand what you're thinking, Hiro. Just…" Her blue eyes radiated a calm worry. "Be careful, okay?"

Hiro smirked bitterly. "You're one to talk, princess."

That nickname was used only when Kimeko said something redundant that irritated Hiro. A yakuza daughter telling her bodyguard to be careful was a strange irony. The fact that a bodyguard was needed spoke volumes alone.

"When did we stop being honest with each other?" Kimeko murmured with a wistful twist of her lips.

The question was meant to be overheard by Hiro and prompt a serious conversation, but Hiro's attention laid in someone else's hands already. "Oy! Heiwajima-san!" She ran off into the lunch room without noticing Kimeko's crestfallen expression.

The blonde turned around with a scowl at the ready. He looked surprised to find Hiro standing behind him with a strangely bright grin. "Oh, you. What do you want now?"

She pouted glancing up at him through her lashes. "Aw, did you forget my name already?"

"Ryu-something?" He muttered clearly feeling awkward by being called out.

"You can call me Hiro. Now," she pulled him into the lunch line and beamed up at him with a radiant smile that threw him off guard. "How about you buy me lunch in exchange for almost hitting me with a trashcan?"

The scowl returned and he turned away trying to ignore the pretty smile she wore so well. "I already apologized for that," he muttered.

"But _I _haven't forgiven you. Buy me lunch and I will." The torn look on his face told Hiro she had won already.

Sighing in defeat, Shizuo grumbled, "What do you want?"

Jumping up in victory, her gray eyes sparkled under the fluorescent lighting. "Red bean buns!" She put up three fingers to show how many she wanted.

An eyebrow quirked at her immediate answer. "That's it?" Something about the way she acted made him want to smile which was beyond strange, all things considered, since she was forcing him to buy her food.

"Ah? A coffee, too?"

Food purchased and in Hiro's hands much to her evident delight, she kept pace with Shizuo. "I don't ever see you in the lunch room eating, where do you go?"

Her sincere expression took him off guard yet again when he looked down to gauge why she was asking such a thing. The honest answer fell from his mouth. "Everyone's afraid of me so I eat in the classroom so I don't bother them."

"That's lonely," she commented hitting close enough to home to make Shizuo flinch. "Sit with me and my friends then! I don't think they'll mind."

Shizuo stared down at the blonde girl in confusion. "Aren't _you_ afraid of me?"

She scoffed as if that suggestion were preposterous. "No. I'm not afraid of anyone." Without waiting for his response, she forcefully tugged him to her table and sat him down beside her usual seat.

Kimeko barely batted at eye, but Eri and Yumi gawked. Yumi's spoon dropped from her mouth back on to her tray with a _clang_.

"Yo." Hiro greeted them with a broad grin. She was thoroughly enjoying the spectacle forming and her friends' reactions to it. "I'm sure you all know Heiwajima-san." Then addressing him, she pointed to her friends in turn. "That's Kimeko Yamaguchi, Eri Nakano, and Yumi Takahashi. Thank you for the food!" Putting down her red bean buns noisily she finally took a seat and bit into her first bun relishing both the taste and the awkward silence.

Finishing it off and smirking at Eri and Yumi, Hiro turned to Shizuo. "How's your day been so far?"

"Quiet until now," he grunted glancing at the small groups forming around them and the curious whispers deriving from those groups.

"Quiet is boring," Hiro declared triumphantly. "This is so much better, right Eri, Yumi?" She glanced at her friends who swallowed thickly and pushed their trays of food, untouched since Shizuo sat down, away from them. They exchanged looks of complete understanding. This was Hiro's revenge for the rumors they started.

Yumi laughed awkwardly and moved about like a disjointed doll. "Oh, yeah, totally."

Kimeko shrugged and finally spoke. "I don't think this is any worse than usual. At least they've shut up." She nodded her head toward Eri and Yumi and then smiled welcomingly at Shizuo. "Nice to meet you, you can call me Kimeko since I hate people using my surname." She extended a hand to Shizuo who stared at it blankly until she dropped it.

"Nice to meet you," he muttered keeping his head down.

Hiro started to feel bad for his obvious discomfort and involving him in her scheme. Stretching she checked the time and groaned. "Class doesn't start for another fifteen minutes, who's up to going out to the courtyard?"

Eri and Yumi quickly stood up and packed their remaining food away. "We, uh, have something to do!"

"Yeah! In the library!" Eri pushed Yumi out of the lunchroom leaving Shizuo, Kimeko, and Hiro alone at the table.

Kimeko frowned at the backs of the departing girls. "_I_ actually have something to do for English." She sighed and looked to Hiro almost pityingly. "You two are on your own now. Bye." With one last wave, she too left the lunch room carrying a few gawking stares with her.

Once all eyes rested on Shizuo and Hiro, she suddenly felt nervous. Standing up, she tilted her head toward Shizuo. "You coming?"

To her surprise he stood up and nodded. "Sure." He stuffed his hands into his pockets and followed her out to the courtyard.

Hiro picked a specific bench beneath the cherry blossom tree where she could watch the last few petals drift to ground before her. They sat in silence for a few moments, not that she minded.

"Why aren't you scared of me?" Shizuo asked breaking the quiet in a terse voice.

When Hiro leaned over to get a glimpse of his expression, she found him staring down at his hands clasped together. "Why should I be afraid of you?" She asked wondering where this conversation would lead her.

"I almost hit you with a trashcan, and you saw what I can do. Any normal person would avoid me."

Hiro detected a trace of sadness in his voice and decided the right thing to do would be dispelling his worries. "So what? You heard who I work for and saw that I beat people up and take their money. Are _you_ afraid of me?"

His chuckle surprised them both. "No."

"See? Just because our demons are a little bigger than other people's doesn't mean they have to be feared automatically." She gave him a genuine grin this time that outshone her earlier ones by miles. Masks could only hold a fraction of the truth, and Hiro's truth always shone more brilliantly than anything else.

When Shizuo didn't respond, she cocked her head. "Heiwajima-san?"

"Shizuo. You can call me Shizuo. I remember you from elementary school, you know. You were with Shinra when he visited me in the hospital."

"Yeah, I did. Though I didn't really talk to you back then..." Taken aback by this turn of events, Hiro mulled it over for a moment pinching her chin with her thumb and forefinger. Coming to a conclusion she leaped up and spun to face Shizuo. "So we're friends now?"

Shizuo couldn't even fathom where she got her energy from. And why her brightness infected him in such a strange way. "Sure, I guess."

Hiro cheered. "That makes you my seventh friend in my life. A sad number, but hey! It's working its way up!" Izaya wasn't accounted for in that calculation. Only Kimeko, Shinra, Kadota, Yumi, Eri, Celty, and now Shizuo made the list.

"You're my first friend," Shizuo admitted reluctantly. The look on her face, deeply sad, made him instantly regret his words. "Not that I really want any friends."

Hiro smiled to herself recalling how Kimeko befriended her in a similar manner. "Well, one friend is better than nothing. No one can survive alone." Those were the exact words six year old Kimeko said to six year old Hiro sounding far too sage-like for her age. She marveled at how nice it felt to pass those worlds along as an extension to someone else in need. At that, she explained the exact story of how Kimeko and she met not caring if he wanted to hear it or not. Because that's what friends did, right?

Once the bell for class sounded, Hiro waved. "Bye bye Shizuo!"

He gave her an awkward wave in return and hurried away.

Giggling, Hiro started making her way to her own class when a disturbance froze her in place. Kimeko was kneeling on the ground with her belongings scattered around her. A bunch of girls pointed and laughed.

"Oh my, where's your servants to help you now?"

"Be careful! She might get her family to shoot you up!"

"Oh oh! Is that a gun? Aw, just a pencil case."

"W-wait, this is going a little far…"

The contents of the pencil case dropped to the ground. The girl then proceeded to throw the pencil case at Kimeko. It bounced off her shoulder but she remained impassive to the cruelty and merely continued to gather her things.

One girl grabbed Kimeko by the hair and growled, "Stupid bitch, don't ignore us! What? You think you're too good for us?"

Hiro lost it. She charged at the girl holding Kimeko's hair between her gaudy fingers and knocked her to the ground. Pummeling her face in wasn't enough, she wanted to gouge out the bitch's beady, little eyes. But the expression of remorse on Kimeko's face stopped her. Leaving the first girl sobbing on the ground, she turned on the other girls carefully memorizing their faces for future reference.

"Anyone else wanna say something? Speak now or forever hold your faces intact." Rage, red-hot and vapid, kindled just beneath Hiro's skin and everyone in the hallway could sense the danger permeating the air.

Three girls fled immediately leaving their other accomplice broken and forgotten on the ground. One girl paused to give Kimeko a pitying glance before fleeing as well. Hiro gave the still-sobbing girl a disdainful sniff and turned her attention to Kimeko. There was a bruise forming on her cheek and her bottom lip was split. Now Hiro regretted letting any of them go unharmed, but she knew their faces which meant she could find them again. That settled her down enough to wrap a comforting arm around Kimeko and pick up the other girl by the back of her jacket and drag her to the infirmary.

The nurse on duty took one look at the situation and understood it completely without a spoken word. She put the broken girl on a bed and then tended to Kimeko's wounds first. That's the way it was around here. Kimeko was first and foremost, all because of her family. Hiro felt a twinge of understanding toward the girls who ganged up on her. They envied the importance and favoritism. But Kimeko didn't choose for things to be that way, they just were. Which made those girls' actions unjustified, reasonable, but unjustified.

Hiro surveyed the nurse's swift hands with critical eyes. She was in pure guard-mode now. Nothing could bypass her. _Mari Ueda_. She glanced at the girl with the swollen and bloodied face laying on the bed saving the name for future use. Once Kimeko was deemed fit and proper, Hiro escorted her through the halls sending scathing glares toward anyone who dared glance their way. It wasn't the first time she had gotten into a fight during school and it certainly wouldn't be the last. But that never stopped everyone from acting like it was a huge deal every time she did.

_Morons_, Hiro seethed. _I hate stupid people with boring reasons_.

Aloud she murmured, "This wasn't the first time, was it Kimeko?"

"Yes, it was," came the adamant reply from behind a split lip.

Hiro frowned, her eyes clouding over with sadness. _When did we stop being honest with each other indeed…_


End file.
